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? For Guitar Players Your thoughts on affordable, quality amps for electric guitars? | |
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cranshaw62 said: Thanks for the info. I'll check it out. | |
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carvin makes well-rated stuff for reasonable prices. If you can stand the way their gear looks (the amps aren't bad, the guitars look awful), it's not a bad brand to look into
I would also recommend looking into Peavey. Again, well-rated stuff that's relatively cheap but may sometimes look a little cheesey (I think Peavey's come a long way in this department, however). I myself own a Peavey tweed Classic 50 amp and I absolutely love it - and it cost me $400 used, mint. (My one modification - I removed the stupid pointy 'Peavey' logo from the grille; now it's the greatest amp ever) | |
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 Echo..whats with the Strawberry Shortcake avatar?! cute!!  The Prince.org Photo Album http://www.purplehouse.nl...ery/Jacqui | |
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CARVIN,PEAVY,CRATE,RANDALL,PIGNOSE,all inexpensive,all good. | |
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Wha? no one mentions Marshall??? | |
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Vashti said: Echo..whats with the Strawberry Shortcake avatar?! cute!! Haven't you heard? This is the new me. Strawberry Shortcake is sure only to offend fans of Rainbow Brite &/or the Gummy Bears. | |
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Stay away from cheap Marshalls (unless they're 2nd hand). Hughes & Kettner makes a few great cheap amps that sound very musical for their price.
Actually, if you got stereos and authencity isn't an issue for you get an amp modeler or something like that. Of course I would never use those for music production or for anything professional but I wish I would have had one when I first started playing the instrument. Dozens of models, effects and direct line to home hi-fi for the price of a Nintendo! | |
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IrishEcho said: Your thoughts on affordable, quality amps for electric guitars?
Look out for a used Boogie Studio 22 - these can be picked up for very reasonable money. For a 22 watt amp this is louder than any Peavey/Marshall 100 watt combo I have heard. Much more musical too. I've owned Marshalls, Peaveys, Vox etc and I'm now stuck on Boogies. Sure they cost more than 'regular amps' but in my opinion they are worth every penny. I'm a gigging musician though - a boogie is not worth buying if you are just a bedroom player as it will never reach it's full potential. Carvin make excellent amps at very good prices. I love the Bel Air 50w Valve combo. The Peavey 'Classic' range are also very nice. Again, all valve. If you want an amp that will give you it all though, try one of the various 'modelling' amps that are available. | |
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...and the quality of a Nintendo as well. But that is, a lot of people like Nintendos. [This message was edited Mon Jul 15 4:33:13 PDT 2002 by Novabreaker] | |
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Novabreaker said: ...and the quality of a Nintendo as well. But that is, a lot of people like Nintendos.
[This message was edited Mon Jul 15 4:33:13 PDT 2002 by Novabreaker] Pardon me?! | |
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with all due respect to scotty2funky, I'd advise staying away from modelling amps at this point. they're supposed to sound pretty great and squeeze a lot of features into an amp for not a lot of money, but then I think that's just the problem. too many fresh guitar players are sold a lot of bells and whistles which get in the way of LEARNING HOW TO PLAY GUITAR (I've seen it happen a million times).
I've been playing now for close to 20 years, playing for 5 years before I even bought a wah pedal. but it helped me listen to what my hands where doing - something my friends never bothered with I say a straight ahead guitar and tube amp w/reverb is what a newer player should think about | |
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Good thing you brought up that reverb, cause that's definitely the thing a beginner needs. At least it will make things sound better for the people who have to live with the said beginning guitar player. That's why those modelling things are suited for beginners, they have all the effects for surprisingly little money. Plus you don't have to tweak the knobs for hours like on a Marshall head - especially if you have no idea what it takes for a playable tone - just call up a preset and you're all set.
The tubes are not mandatory though, altough I would never personally play seriously anything else than a tube amp or a hybrid design. [This message was edited Mon Jul 15 7:40:19 PDT 2002 by Novabreaker] | |
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Fender Vibro King
http://www.frankaxtell.co...roKing.htm Other recommended Studio gear: http://www.frankaxtell.co..._gear.html Just got it, it's a great amp. [This message was edited Mon Jul 15 7:58:23 PDT 2002 by yamomma] All Rights Reserved. |
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I just got myself a new second hand Marshall 9001 head. I'm a little disappointed actually. Well, maybe for industrial... | |
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IrishEcho said: Your thoughts on affordable, quality amps for electric guitars?
Steer clear of anything with Valves basically. If it has those, its probably very expensive. There are some very cheap amps that mimic the sound of a Valve amp such as Marshel Valve State Amps. Thats what I use 
God bless Lewis | |
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I wouldn't use a Valvestate even if I was homeless!
But there are some good affordable tube combos around these days, check out the Hughes & Kettner Tube Edition. btw, you are most likely looking for a COMBO amp, not a preamp+poweramp+cabinet type of setup. Combos are the ones that come in a one box and are meant for home musicians. Also they are far cheaper than a huge stack. | |
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Novabreaker said: I wouldn't use a Valvestate even if I was homeless!
But there are some good affordable tube combos around these days, check out the Hughes & Kettner Tube Edition. btw, you are most likely looking for a COMBO amp, not a preamp+poweramp+cabinet type of setup. Combos are the ones that come in a one box and are meant for home musicians. Also they are far cheaper than a huge stack. true, valves are better but he asked for something cheap. | |
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I think the Valvestate actually has one inside it too. I think it's the typical 12AX7... a common preamp tube, they're definitely overusing those these days.
Don't get me wrong the Valvestate is a great amp for a beginner and not one for a limited professional use either, I just personally don't find any use for it. Altough I donät think they manufacture those anymore, Marshall has a new line out which replaced those. But like I said, there are better cheap amps out there than the cheap Marshalls. | |
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I really would recommend a tube/valve amp - they just sound much, much better and I think you'd be more likely to actually pick up and play, and not let your gear collect dust in the corner. Peavey and Fender offer fairly inexpensive combos
Peavey has something going on with their solid state amps (cheap) these days - "TransTube" technology which is supposed to emulate tube amp characteristics pretty closely and gets high marks from critics - some may balk at the name but I'm kind of a believer (check out ebay!) OR you could take my '84 Gorilla for $50... | |
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Buy a John Hornby Skews, Its a versatile, rock/funk guitar with a great low action and lighter body weight. My guitar tutor loves it although please don't buy a guitar with a floyd rose tuner on it if you are just starting. I did and i can only just about tune it!!. In terms of effects and pedals where would we purple heads be without our flange and wah-wahs!!. Enjoy the long journey. | |
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Ooops just read the actaul topic of this thread again , my response is that quite frankly i know fuck all about amps as i use a shitty little practice amp and can just about string 3 chords together. Hope that hepls!!!. | |
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Randall and Peavey are pretty good. Since you never gave a dollar figure, its kinda hard to determine what you consider "inexpensive". To be honest though, if you are not against used equipment, I'd say a good older amp is better than a cheap new one. Check the pawn shops and used equipment sections of music stores and get something you won't be disappointed with. So what if somebody had it before you. Some of the newer gear sounds good, but has the lifespan of a fruitfly (cough, cough...line 6...cough). If you're a serious guitar player, you DO need to get something decent at some point. Don't sleep on Ampeg or the good 'ol Roland JC series. They are nice amps. If your budget is scraping the bottom of the barrell, think Peavey for sure. They have improved considerably over the years. Unfortunately, I've seen a price increase on some of the higher-end stuff. Everybody is going the route of amp modeling these days, but I say stick to the "real deal". It'll teach you to PLAY better, which is more important (to most people) than just sounding good via the equipment. PLUS, the older gear was built to last longer than most of this amp modeling crap. In a year, it may actually cost you MORE money in repairs. | |
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BlaqueKnight said: [color=blue:e6bdf980e2:6ede8669b4] Randall and Peavey are pretty good. Since you never gave a dollar figure, its kinda hard to determine what you consider "inexpensive". To be honest though, if you are not against used equipment, I'd say a good older amp is better than a cheap new one. Check the pawn shops and used equipment sections of music stores and get something you won't be disappointed with. So what if somebody had it before you. Some of the newer gear sounds good, but has the lifespan of a fruitfly (cough, cough...line 6...cough). If you're a serious guitar player, you DO need to get something decent at some point. Don't sleep on Ampeg or the good 'ol Roland JC series. They are nice amps. If your budget is scraping the bottom of the barrell, think Peavey for sure. They have improved considerably over the years. Unfortunately, I've seen a price increase on some of the higher-end stuff. Everybody is going the route of amp modeling these days, but I say stick to the "real deal". It'll teach you to PLAY better, which is more important (to most people) than just sounding good via the equipment. PLUS, the older gear was built to last longer than most of this amp modeling crap. In a year, it may actually cost you MORE money in repairs. what's up to soul Brother BlaqueKnight? One of The Baddest cats on the Planet IMHO! I have Pawn shop Guitar&Amp.i keep it basic for now.Peacemistermaxxx | |
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quite a few players i know through Net message boards swear by Peavey Classic 30's... | |
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